Improvement in manufacture of railway-rails



B. O. LAUTH Manufacture ofjRai'lway-Rail.

No. 210,616. Patented Dec. 10,18 8.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BERNARD C. LAUTH, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY-RAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 210,616, dated December10, 1878; application filed September 20, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERNARD C. LAUTH, of Pittsburg, county of Allegheny,State ofPennsylva-nia, have invented or discovered a new and usefulImprovement in Manufacture of Railroad-Rails; and I do hereby'declarethe following to be afull, clear, concise, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a partof this specification, in which-like letters indicating like partsFigure 1 is a perspective view of an ordinary in got-mold, with asheet-metal diaphragm arranged therein in position for the pouring ofthe metals, or different qualities of the same metal, so as to make thecompound rail-ingot. Fig. 2 shows in perspective one end of such ingot;and Fig. 3 shows in perspective one.

end of a compound railway-rail produced from such ingot.

My invention relates to the manufacture of railway-rails, in which twoor more malleable cast metals, or two or more qualities of the samemalleable metal, are required or desired in the finished railsay, onemetal or one quality in the head of the rail, another in the base, witheither or athird in the web, or with one in the top wearing part of thehead, the rest of the rail being of one or more other metals orqualities of metals. The desirability of such a rail has long beenrecognized; but, so far as I am aware, a durable product of suchcharacter has not heretofore been found practically attainable. Probablythe greatest practical difiiculty has been encountered in the effort tosecure an inseparable union between the different qualities or grades ofmetals employed, while at the same time keeping them so far distinctthat one shall not become seriously intermingled with the other. Thisdifficulty I have overcome by casting the different metals or thedifierent qualities or grades of the same metal simultaneously in thesame mold, but on the opposite sides of a sheet-metal diaphragm, whichshall be so thin and of such degree of fusibility as to becomepractically fused by and assimilated with the metals so poured in, andpermit a perfect union of the latter, but durable enough to prevent thequalities of metal on its opposite sides from becoming commingled to anygreat extent before they pass from a fluid condition.

construction, such as may be adapted to produce the shape of ingotdesired preparatory to making the rail. At the proper place in suchmold, so that the space for the different metals or qualities of metalsmay be properly divided, I arrange a thin sheetmetal diaphragm, a, andsecure it in position in any convenient manner by lugs, grooves, orother device, or with a two-part mold, jointed at the proper place. Theedges of the plate may be clamped in at the joint, as shown in the drawin g. In this way I divide the mold-cavity into the desired number ofcells, two or more, according to the number of grades or qualities ofmetals desired in the finished rails, and for this purpose I use eithercast-steel, Bessemer steel, or homogeneous iron, or any qualities orgrades of these metals, or any ofthem capable of being cast and worked.These partitions being properly arranged, the diiferent grades orqualities of metals are poured simultaneously, each into its appropriatecell, so as to produce a com pound ingot, B B, which, when worked downby hammering or rolling, or both, shall give in the finished rail 1) bthe proper or desired distribution of the metals.

The molten metals so poured in will rise simultaneously in the differentcells, and by the time they set or lose their fluidity they will so farhave effected a fusion of the diaphragm a as to result in a complete andperfect amalgamation or union of the metals so poured in.

Preferably the partition-sheets'a are so thin that they will bepractically fused by the action of the molten metals at the same timethat the latter becomes set, or so far hardened that the differentgrades, or qualities, or kinds of metals on opposite sides of suchdiaphragms will not commingle to any great extent; but these diaphragmsmust be so thin that they will be substantially, and to all practicalintents and purposes, destroyed as separate component parts of the rail,or so far diffused by and as similated with the metals on its oppositesides that, in the rail produced, each quality or grade of metal will beunited and solidified with the next contiguous grade or quality withoutthe presence of an intervening layer or stratum of unassimilated orunconverted material.

The thickness of such diaphragms will do pend somewhat on the size, anddegree of heat,

The mold A is of the usual or any suitable when the ingot is cast; forthe greater the amount of molten metal employed, and the higher itstemperature, the thicker must be the diaphragms, or otherwise they wouldbe liable to fuse too soon, and allow the different grades or qualitiesof molten metals to run into each other and commingle.

The molten metals can be poured in at the top or run in from the bottominto the different cells, bottom pouring being preferred.

After the ingot B B is thus made, it can be worked in any known way intothe finished rail desired.

By this process I can produce finished rails in which a hard durablehead or cap shall be combined with a soft tough flange and web, and therelative degrees of each may be varied at pleasure.

The difl'erent hatchings in the ingot B B, and the dotted line in therail I) b, are intended to represent the different metals or qualitiesof metals employed, the division-line between being the plane of thediaphragm.

By the terms inseparable union and perfect union, and other likeexpressions, I mean not only that the union in the ingot shall beperfect, but also that during the subsequent working of the ingot bywhich it is reduced to a rail shape, and also in the subsequent use ofthe rail, this union shall continue perfect and inseparable for allpractical purposes.

I am aware that it is not new to use a thin fusible sheet-metal bandbetween different qualities of non-malleable cast-ironin making carvhcels of cast-iron; but the use of a sheetmetal diaphragm in connectionwith malleable metals, as and for the uses described, constitutes anindependent invention, since the former is not suggestive of the latter,and the use of a diaphragm in making a castiron car-wheel would not andcould not iniport or imply that even the same diaphragm could besuccessfully and practically used in making malleable ingots, such thatthe union so formed should not be destroyed or practically weakened bysubsequent reworking into railroad-rails. One invention ends whereexperiment in making another begins.

I am aware that comparatively thin sheetmetal plates have been insertedin in got-molds, and cast malleable metals have been poured on one orboth sides thereof, at such temperature as to effect afusion of the facesurfaces of such plates 5 but I am not aware that such process has everbeen carried to the extent of incorporating therein a sheet or plateadapted to be rendered fluid throughout by and under the heat of themetal so poured in.

I claim herein as my invention- 1. The process of manufacturingrail-ingots, to be subsequently worked into railway-rails, whichconsists in eastin g two malleable metals, or two qualities of the samemalleable metal, simultaneously in an ingot-mold on opposite sides of athin sheet-metal diaphragm capable of being rendered fluid under theheat of the poured metals, substantially as set forth,

2. The method of making railway-rails hereinbefore described, whichconsists in casting two malleable metals, or different qualities of thesame malleable metal, simultaneously in an ingot-mold, on opposite sidesof a thin fusible sheet-metal diaphragm capable of being rendered fluidunder the heat of the poured metals, and then reducing by hammers orrolls, or both, the ingot so made to the desired rail form,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

BERNARD C. LAUTH.

\Vitnesses:

OLAUDIUS L. PARKER, GEORGE H. GHRIsTY.

